Entries in funding
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In order to continue on your journey to finding funding for your idea, you must have completed step one. There is no reason to rush into this next step until your business plan and power point presentation is nearly perfect in your mind. As we learned during the process, you have to make your presentation short and sweet but REALLY eye catching.

One key factor that you must remember is that investors get tons of pitches every day and you have to make yours stand out from the crowd. Sure you’ve heard that before but it’s true. I have sent out literally 400 pitches and I’ve only heard back from a handful of these companies. Since my partner and I live in different cities perfecting our Deck (the word investors use for Power Point presentation) took many emails back and forth for about 3 days straight. This is not something you go into lightly. We did not work on anything else until we knew that our information was good to go and were comfortable enough to send it out to potential investor.

I remember one day, I told my children that mommy had an important project to work on and that I would play with them once I was done. This process can be hard to explain to a 4 year old, 2 year old and 1 month old, but I said to them that it will be worth it in the end when Mommy gets her work done. Yes, I might have thrown on a couple Disney movies to be a babysitter but if your idea is important then it’s ok to take a full work day to get it done.

First I will give you a quick list of where to begin your search. If I had a list like this of what to search then beginning the process would have been so much simpler. I had to start from scratch because I knew nothing about the funding world.

Google will become your best friend while you are looking for different firms and/or means to invest in your cause.

Things to search for:

- Angel Investors- Venture Capitals- Business Incubators- Seed Capital- US Small Business Grants- Small Business Grants for Women- Crowdfunding- Celebrity Backers/ Endorses- Where did *so and so company* (like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, etc) get investors

Those are great places to start but this is definitely not an exclusive list of where else you can find money to fund your business.

This is just the beginning, follow me during the course of this series to find out how each of these options either got us somewhere or was something that just didn’t work for us AT ALL.

Use the info or don’t use it but at least enjoy our long and arduous journey along the way. There are good days and bad days when it comes to funding but if you are persistent then trust me there will be someone out there who loves your idea just as much as you do.

Abbey Fatica balances her time everyday between her husband, three kids and her businesses. Yes, businesses! Ever since she started working from home and being her own boss in 2009, she has started companies like Living Your Moment and TrackerSphere working with brands and bloggers enhancing her clients visibility through social media channels. Her newest venture includes writing a nine part book series called Life Well Blogged, a collection of humorous blog posts. While she is all over on social media, you follow her currently on Twitter @LifeWellBlogged and on Facebook at Life Well Blogged.

This will be a Multi-Part Series about how to secure funding for your startup and what else can happen in the funding world? I will be discussing my own personal journey and the *MANY* steps it has taken to even get my foot in the door (or even next to the door). The goal of this funding series is to show fellow Women Entrepreneurs the process of getting VC (Venture Capitals) and Angel Investors to provide your start up with the seed capital you need to succeed.

Where to start? Ok so you’re thinking “I’ve got this great idea and I want the world to know about my product/service and USE it.” But where the heck do I start? There are so many options and steps that the world of funding can get quite confusing.

Let’s start with the basics: Before you even start researching investment firms, grants, angel investors, incubators, etc, you have got to get your business plan, financials and executive summary in order.

If you are serious about making your idea into a viable business and want to gain the attention of investors then you have really got to know your stuff.

Once you have this business plan in place in FULL DETAIL and I mean get it as detailed as possible then begin to draft your Financial Projections and how you plan to use your funds.

The following are the aspects of a Financial Projection:

- Capital Raised to Date- Capital Seeking- Pre-Money Valuation- Monthly Burn Rate- Current Monthly Revenue- Revenue Driver- Next Four Years of Projections (Revenue, Expenditures, Profit)- Where and How do you plan on spending their money?

The last piece of the puzzle is a short one/two page Executive Summary. The Summary is just a shortened version of your Business Plan.

Want to see how I have put together our Business Plan, Financials and Executive Summary then feel free to take a look at Gust.com.

The next part of the series will discuss where and what to search for when it comes to your investor options. I will then delve deep into each of the areas and tell you personal stories about each of these arenas.

This series is a means to help you completely break down how to get funding. It’s definitely not an easy process and we don’t want to discourage you from following your dream but securing funding is a full time job. Just remember that the results will just make the journey that much sweeter!

Abbey Fatica balances her time everyday between her husband, three kids and her businesses. Yes, businesses! Ever since she started working from home and being her own boss in 2009, she has started companies like Living Your Moment and TrackerSphere working with brands and bloggers enhancing her clients visibility through social media channels. Her newest venture includes writing a nine part book series called Life Well Blogged, a collection of humorous blog posts. While she is all over on social media, you follow her currently on Twitter @LifeWellBlogged and on Facebook at Life Well Blogged.